Yes, it’s certainly a moral victory for PKR. I urge leaders, members and supporters of PKR and other opposition parties do not feel too sad over the defeat. Let us focus on the real battles – the impending general elections (25 Nov 2007 could be the big day. Mark my words.)Khalid managed to swing some 20 percent Chinese votes with the help of DAP. The swing would be higher if the local Chinese school was not given RM1 million as allocation by the BN camp as a blatant vote-buying effort. The number of Malay votes they lost to BN were insignificant in view of the fact that Ijok was under “maximum/total attack” by Umno. It appears to me that the Umno campaign was much more aggressive than than the MIC. Many have said that Indian voters in the estates were traditionally blind supporters of Barisan Nasional; It has not been easy to even campaign in the estates. I do not agree that PKR or Anwar have lost their ability to pull in the Malay votes. In this Ijok by-election, the party has gotten some 45% Malay support. I believe PKR has a hardcore Malay support of around 30% of the overall Malay population.

If you asked me, I would say that PKR loses Ijok with a slightly bigger majority because of the BTF tactics (Bribes, Threats and Frauds) employed by the shameless and ruthless BN camp.

Bribes

The BN started with a RM36 million development fund right before the nomination day through Selangor MB Khir Toyo. Another RM3.5 million was announced by DPM Najib to build 16 mosques and suraus. And then RM1 million for a Chinese school in Batang Berjuntai.

Voters were paid hard cash (RM200 a vote) and election workers and campaigners were rewarded generously. ( In Pekan Ijok where I spent my whole day canvassing together with other DAP leaders and supporters alongside with PKR members, one young Malay youth wearing a Pemuda BN T-shirt showed me a bundle of RM100 notes he gotten from his master as a “show-off”). Free dinners and concerts were conducted every night throughout the campaign period. Listen to this if you havew timehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJSJM2ndbSo

If you are still wondering why some 142 votes issued to voters were not returned from one of the polling streams, let me share with you what could have possibly taken place…

Voter A was asked to take out a blank voting ballot paper and pass it to a BN operator (usually undercover, not wearing the BN uniform or badges). Voter A will be paid RM200 or more for the blank ballot paper. The operator will then cross it as a vote for BN before pass it on to Voter B. Voter B will be asked to cast the ballot and at the same time retain the blank ballot paper and bring it out to the operator. This exercise went on until the entire polling is over. Trust me, these ‘missing’ 143 ballot papers were not retained by voters as souvenirs (as claimed by the Secretary of Election Commission).

Threats

Voters in general were threatenedthat there would be no development if Khalid is voted in as the ADUN for Ijok. Indian voters working for the estates were warned that they will lose their job(plus their homes) if they were found voting/ supporting the opposition. Election campaigners for Khalid were intimidated or even beaten up by thugs. Even the candidtae himself was threatened and prevented from campaigning in estates and kampungs. Several ceramahs were stopped by the police/FRU for some lame excuses when BN found out that these ceramahs were popular among the electorates.

We were threatened by the deputy Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin at the Pondok Polis Simpang Tiga Ijok when he was barred from entering the compound when two bus loads of alleged “phantom voters” from Perlis were being detained by the police . I heard Khairy repeatedly saying “you will pay for this” over the gate. He could not ‘tahan’ the fact that we were inside the police station but he was outside. But I was not sure whether he was directing his anger to me or the police.

The opposition was again given the final electoral rolls late. This has denied the opposition the opportunity to check the list of voters thoroughly. We believe that the final list is full of phantom voters apart from the 37 voters who were said to be as old as 104 to 107 year-old. For no reasons, the SPR has objected the proposal of using indelible ink for the prevention of phantom voters and multiple voting. And many voters only found out that their names were missing from the electoral rolls on the day of polling.At least three voters complained that they were barred from voting because the record showed that they have voted earlier. In other words, some ‘phantoms” have taken their ballot papers. Unlike the Lunas by-election, PKR only managed to stopped two buses of phantom voters. No one knows how many phantom voters have slipped through quietly.

Believe me, the police would not dare to get to the bottom. All 80 of these so-called cooks from Perlis were Malay ladies except for two Chinese ladies. Several of them told me that they have arrived on the polling day for “jalan-jalan”. Who would believe that Umno would charter two buses to ferry their supporters all the way from Perlis (some 7 hours of journey) just to “look see” in Ijok? What is there to “look see” in Ijok?

I was speaking to members of the press over the gate. They too do not believe that these makciks would travel 7 hours all the way from Perlis to Ijok just for the purpose of “jalan-jalan”.

These ladies from Perlis were giving us answers very different from Khairy and Datuk Hashim ( an UMNO division chief from Perlis) . One of the Malay ladies told me that she was in Ijok to “tengok polling”. One Chinese lady was very concerned about her mykad. Their mykads were taken by the police for investigation. She asked me whether there was anything wrong with her mykad. Before I could answer, she was told by the other Chinese lady to shut up. Anyway, none of them said that they were in Ijok as cooks for the BN campaigners. Both Khairy and Datuk Hashim were lying through their teeths. I suggest National Front should be renamed as National Fraud.

PKR has reasons to suspect that these makciks from Perlis were phantom voters. We were not allowed to check their mykads or conduct our own investigations. It’s now up to the police and SPR to prove otherwise.

Many have asked me why I was detained by the police. Here’s my side of the story…

When I was canvassing outside the polling centre at SJKC Ijok in Pekan Ijok, I was alerted by some canvassers that 3 buses carrying phantom voters were blocked in Bukit Badong and Sunger Darah and detained at the Pondok Polis at Simpang Tiga Ijok, which is just a stone’s throw from the school.

Whe I arrived with other DAP and PKR supporters, I saw two buses bearing Penang registration plates were parked in the compound and the gate was locked. I saw Ezam, Shamsul Iskandar and Ghani and few others PKR leaders were already in the balai polis. I waited until the OCPD Ibrahim arrived and I was then allowed to enter the police station. Khairy who arrived a few minutes later was not allowed to come in. I’m sure the police was doing this him because they know him too well :-).

After making reports to DAP SG and the Parliamentary Oppostion Leader, I decided to leave the police station to join other members who came to Ijok with me from Petaling Jaya, Serdang and Klang. They were waiting fro me outside the fence. I was then told not to leave before a statement was taken from me and other PKR leaders.

The makciks from Perlis were not detained and confined in the buses as claimed by Khairy and others. All of them were allowed to come down from the buses to use the toilet attached with the Pondok Polis. That’s when I gotten the opportunity to ask some questions “casually”. They were allowed to leave one hour earlier than the 15 of us. We were only allowed to leave after the statements and bails (we were allowed to bail each other). We have to report to the police in Ijok on 28 May 2007. What a joke!

The children of these makciks should advise them not to become phantom voters or get involved with BN operators. It is not worth it because such action is unlawful,immoral and unethical. What if they were hurt by the angry protestors？ Who should be blamed if things get out of control?

Both Merdekareview and Malaysiakini have the stories…

BN wins with bigger majority

Apr 28, 07 7:04pm

Malaysiakini

The ruling Barisan Nasional coalition has won the crucial Ijok by-election with a bigger majority of 1,850.Election Commission returning officer Haris Kasim announced that BN’s MIC candidate K Parthiban bagged 5,884 votes while PKR’s Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, 4,034.The majority is 1,850, which is higher than the 2004 general election result, where BN won with a majority of 1,649. It has added 201 votes to its previous majority.Interestingly, both parties have increased their vote tally by around 500 votes, partly due to the higher turnout of voters and the absence of independents.The ruling coalition took 58.6% of the voters while PKR, 40.1%.BN won in seven polling districts while PKR took Malay-majority Kampung Ijok and Chinese-majority Pekan Ijok* [see correction below].Click here for the official results

According to the official EC tally, Bestari Utara, one of the polling centres, registered an unusually high number of ballot papers issued but not returned – a total of 142.It appeared that these ballot papers were given out to voters but somehow they have taken them away instead of putting them into the ballot box. The number of unaccounted ballot papers represent almost 30% of the 500 ballot papers issued in one of Bestari Utara’s voting stream.All the ballot papers which had been issued in other polling districts were duly returned apart from Jaya Setia, which has only one unaccounted ballot paper.Malay, Chinese change votes

The defeated Khalid said after the results were known that PKR intends to contests the results and reveal the incidences of bribery and phantom voters.”This is the dirtiest by-election in the country’s history,” he said.Khalid added that he was unprepared for the “viciousness of the political methods” by the other side to win.”I appreciate the dilemma of the people in Ijok to have been threatened by the fact that if you choose the opposition, you will not be given any development grants. This threatening feature is a very undemocratic way of managing the people’s resources.”PKR lost three of the four Malay-majority districts – Jaya Setia, Bukit Badong and Simpang Ijok – but retained Kampung Ijok.This translates in a swing of Malay voters to BN, but the opposition appeared to obtain a slight swing of Chinese voters in its favour.

Najib: No phantom voters

MCA leader Ong Ka Ting refused to comment on the swing among Chinese voters against the government. He said that the party has yet to analyse the results.

“Nevertheless, we should look at the big picture that BN has won,” he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said that the result is a “good precursor” to the upcoming general elections as this could be the last by-election.

When asked about the allegations by the opposition on the present of phantom voters, Najib said tersely: “There are no phantom voters. Full stop.”

He added that BN never used “underhand tactics” in its election campaigns.

When asked about the fate of PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim, who is former deputy premier, Najib said that he preferred not to “say too much”.

“I’d rather you draw your own conclusion.”

Highest turnout in history

The voter turnout in this hotly contested by-election is an unprecedented 83.08 percent – the highest in by-election history.

In the 2004 general election, the turnout was 76.17 percent, or 9,411 voters.

When the polling closed at 5pm today, a total of 10,195 voters had cast their votes.

Of the nine polling districts, Malay-majority Bukit Badong scored the highest with 90.10%. Another five saw over 80% turnout.

*Correction: Earlier this evening, malaysiakinireported the unofficial results for Pekan Ijok as BN – 605, PKR – 624. However, the official results are BN – 605, PKR – 584. PRK did not take this Chinese-majority polling district as reported, but it has done significantly better compared to the 2004 general election (BN – 761, Keadilan – 306). We regret the error.It is expected that unofficial results are sometimes inaccurate. In any case, based on the unofficial results which came from our sources from various counting centres – all but one had been correct – malaysiakiniannounced that BN had won handsomely at 7.05pm, more than one-and-a-half hour before the results were declared by the Election Commission.

“I am sad for Malaysia.”So said former deputy premier and PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim in response to his party’s defeat in the Ijok by-election.“I have been talking about the fraudulent process all the while but I did not think it was going to be so bad … intimidation and blatant bribery … the whole conduct of the election today,” he said.Top Keadilan leaders were absent when the results were announced. Anwar said the by-election was ridden with phantom voters and police harassment against the opposition.”We will launch an official protest on a charge of fraudulent conduct of the election,” he said.However Election Commission secretary Kamaruzaman Mohamad Nor had earlier dismissed the oppositions allegations.”There are no phantom voters,” he said. “You have to follow our (electoral) list,” he said.”The confusion arised because they used another electoral list,” he added, referring to the commission’s official list of voters.The ruling coalition has fended off a spirited opposition campaign led by Anwar to retain the semi-rural Ijok seat in Selangor with an increased majority.K Parthiban, from BN’s MIC polled 5,884 votes while PKR’s candidate Abdul Khalid Ibrahim secured 4,034.The BN increased its majority by 210 from the last 2004 general elections in the state. A total of 10,049 voters or 81.9 percent of the electorate cast ballots, a record turnout for the constituency.Only BN can help with development

Although not contesting, Anwar has thrown his weight behind the opposition candidate in a bitter and gruelling campaign against the powerful ruling national front coalition led by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The weekend poll was widely touted as a litmus test of popularity for both sides ahead of a general election expected before 2009.

Polls opened amid tight security at 8am as voters lined up at nine polling stations in the tiny constituency.

An ethnic Indian construction worker, E Elango, 52, said he backed the ruling coalition as it could bring development to the sleepy town.

“It (the BN) can help the people with infrastructure development. The opposition cannot bring any development,” he said.

Annuar Musa, BN chief in Kelantan said the Malay-majority areas of Ijok traditionally supported the opposition.

“The previous Barisan Nasional candidate did not meet the expectations of the voters,” Annuar said, referring to former state lawmaker K Sivalingam, whose death earlier this month precipitated the by-election.

“Anwar is not a factor in this election. He can be in politics but it’s not a threat to the government,” Annuar said.

Reflecting on the party’s loss, Anwar said he remained optimistic of the people’s support for PKR.

“It is a very good turning point as I was able to articulate our views but we are dealing with a dirty process here,” Anwar said.

After one week of intensive campaign, PKR has gained an upper hand in Chinese areas but it appears that BN has an upper hand in Indian areas. The Malay areas were unclear at this point of time. My personal reading about the Malay areas is that PKR should at least be able to maintain what it has gotten in 2004 GE through Abdul Rahman.

In my speech last night, I criticised Najib and top MCA leaders for no courage to admit their mistakes in the past. I also reiterate DAP’s undivided support to PKR in Ijok by-elections. I have specifically debunk a leaflet circulating in both Malay and Indian areas yesterday, which claims that DAP did not put in great effort to assist PKR in Ijok. I said the reason DAP did not put up many party flags in Ijok because we do not want to confuse the voters here. But DAP has sent many of its heavyweights over the last 8 days to campaign for Khalid.

I have also taken some time to expose MCA leaders who “misled” and “instigated” the Education Ministry to close down the original SJKC Damansara.

DAP SG Lim Guan Eng , in his speech, urged Ijok people to behave like bosses instead of reducing themselves to “political beggers”. He urged Ijok people to reject money politics and vote for Khalid. He challenged Najib to apologise over the incident in which he spoke under a banner with a racist message- “Basahkan keris dengan darah Cina”. Najib was then the Umno Youth chief .

Severalhundred voters received this fake note through mail today. The sender used envelope choped with KDU College. It must have come from the BN camp with an objective to confuse the voters and blame it to PKR.

Ijok voters would cast their votes tomorrow. All the best to Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

Do not ask me why the authority sent these horse-riders to Ijok. Pls also do not ask me why they sent a helicopter to Ijok, shooting beams of light at the crowd gathered at PKR’s ceramahs.

Sharizat Jalil was going door-to-door in Ijok n/v ‘happily’ until she saw this huge banner hanging down from the top of the PKR operating centre. I asked her entourage to check whether their boss’s picture was up there. They seemed to be happy to see that Sahrizat’s face was not there.

We were happy to note that the threats from the BN thugs and disruptions from the police did not dampen the spirit of the Ijok people at all. Last night, more people came to listen to Kit Saing, Anwar, Mat Sabu and other opposition heavyweights then previous nights. Thousands gathered at different ceramah points in Ijok as early as 8pm.

It’s also encouraging to note that we have a significant number of women folks and elderly citizens turned up for the ceramahs. The audience usually stay through the ceramahs except for some who “chase after ” Kit Siang and Anwar.

The Jiu Jiu Bai Xiao!!! Save Our School!!!

SOS Damansara group made its appearance at the ceramah last night. They sang the theme song-“Let’s Unite to Save Bai Xiao” – which was chosen by me when I was their adviser. Earlier, the group have distributed leaflets in Ijok to highlight their problems and expose the culprits behind the closure of their school.

Bandar Mahkota Cheras Open Access Road Action Committee were aslo at Ijok to highlight their problems. Samy has failed to help them as a minister. They got Khalid to endorse their cause. It’s chairman Tan Boon Wah gave a short speech at the ceramah on last Sunday.

“From an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan”

Lat night, Kit Siang has described Ijok as a swan after the BN has thrown in close to 100 million ringgit. He reminded them to “write history and create a miracle” by making Khalid the ADUN of Ijok. He once again urged everyone in Ijok to emulate Justice Bao-to differentiate between right and wrong, just and unjust- before casting their votes.

While he urged the Ijok people to give encouragement to Anwar who has the courage to admit his mistake over an old issue some twenty years ago, he challenge the “keris-waving” Najib and MCA leaders who have betrayed the Chinese to pick up the courage to admit their mistakes in the past.

Khalid looks very tanned after a week of intensive campaign but he was in his usual cool and steady mood. He’s not disturbed by the “slip of tongue” which most of us do. Who would believe Khalid actually wanted the Ijok voters to vote against him? Anyway, Ijok may have two K’s to serve them after this by-elections: Khalid and Khir Toyo. Khir has set up a service centre in Ijok on Wednesday. He was rather embarrassed to see that very few Chinese (no more than 50) turned up for the opening ceremony although the centre sits in the middle of the Chinese new village.

Also yesterday, AAB came to Ijok new village for a short while (stopping over at the local MCA and Gerakan operation centres) after attending the installation ceremony of Agong in the morning. He spent 150 minutes in Ijok, visiting four different operation centres. It’s rather unusual for the PM to campaign in by-elections. To me, it says that there were serious cracks in the BN campaign and the team led by Najib is not confident at all.

In my speech last night, I invited the Ijok people, members and supporters of DAP and all the other opposition parties to canvass for Khalid on Saturday. I urge them to turn up in full force at all the polling centres. I believe the visible presence of opposition supporters would help to encourage the Ijok voters (who were intimidated by BN thugs) to cast their votes for the candidate representing the opposition parties.

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang decided to give another push to the PKR’s campaign by meeting the Ijok people tonight. This will be his third visit to Ijok since Tuesday.I will be there early to make the necessary arrangement before his arrival at 8pm. The question now is whether ceramahs lined up tonight would be allowed to take place or again stopped or disrupted by Kuala Seloangor OCPD Ibrahim with the help of FRU just like the previous two nights.DAP SG Lim Guan Eng is scheduled to return to Ijok on Friday, the eve of polling day.I will be talking to the Ijok people on issues closest to their heart, and explain why a vote for Khalid could change their lives.I will also ask the Ijok people should the OCPD of Kuala Selangor resign for failing to carrying out his duties and responsibilities effectively.

On the other hand, Tan Sri Khalid has another nice surprise from the former prime minister TDM. He has urged the Ijok people to send a signal to the “rotten” Umno-led BN Goverment. He too believes that BN has changed the nature of the race from by-election to buy-election.

Malaysiakini has the report.

Send signal to the ‘rotten’ government

Fauwaz Abdul Aziz
Apr 26, 07 10:53am

Malaysiakini

The Ijok state seat by-election this Saturday is the right time for the voters to shatter the government’s propaganda that all is well, said former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.While he did not outrightly called on the 12,000-odd Ijok voters not to back the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, he nevertheless urged them to vote wisely this Saturday.“If you don’t think (about) what you are doing, you don’t use your vote intelligently, then of course, you are to be blamed,” he told malaysiakini yesterday.

“Unless you send a signal to the government that, ‘Look, if you don’t behave yourself, you may not get my vote at the next election,’ then the government will say, ‘You see? The people are voting for us. We are doing well,’ he said.

He added that if the Ijok voters got swayed by the by-election goodies in the form of new development in the state constituency, they will only have themselves to blame if a ‘rotten’ government is voted in.

“If you vote (BN) because you get a lot of money or because you get a lot of projects, you may get a rotten government which uses money in order to buy your vote,” said Mahathir.

He lamented that BN supporters would blindly vote for the ruling coalition.

“They don’t care whether it is a good government or not. We are Barisan people. We vote Barisan. No assessment, no study. We vote (Barisan) because we must. That’s why I say a country deserves the government it gets.

“If you don’t think (about) what you are doing, you don’t use your vote intelligently, then of course, you are to be blamed,” he added.

If they lose, Khir Toyo will be blamed

He predicted that should the ruling coalition win, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would get all the credit.

“If they win, it’s because of Pak Lah, if they lose, it’s because of (Selangor Mentri Besar Mohd) Khir Toyo,” he said with his trademark sarcasm.

While declining to describe that he was urging Ijok to register a ‘protest vote’, Mahathir said the BN should not be given unquestioned support.

The Ijok by-election has been called following the death of its incumbent K Sivalingam on April 4.

BN’s MIC candidate K Parthiban will faces off against opposition candidate Khalid Ibrahim of Parti Keadilan Rakyat in the by-election.

In the past week, the landscape of Ijok has changed with millions of ringgit being allocated for mosques, schools, newly surfaced roads, drainage, street lights and other facilities for the voters in this Malay-majority constituency 50km northwest of Kuala Lumpur.

Previously Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had said that there was a ‘feel good’ atmosphere pervading the country, and that he was waiting for the ‘feel good factor’ to get even better before calling for general elections.

Mahathir has been involved in a running battle with his handpicked successor over the latter’s alleged mismanagement of the country’s economy, corruption and cronyism.

LATEST: Opposition leader and several other opposition MPs went to the Batang Berjuntai police station with deputy internal minister Johari at 7 pm today to lodge police report on what happened last night. Several ceramahs were cancelled by the police for unjustifiable reason. Those who accopmpanied Lim are PKR President Azizah and DAP SG Lim Guan Eng.

BN always banks on money(taxpayers’ money) to win by-elections, so much so that it has a become a curse to their elected representatives (you know what I mean).On record, more than RM50 million has been pumped into Ijok as of today ( Machap: RM 30 million- according to its District Officer).Money, you can bet, it’s their most powerful weapon.

When money alone may not win the election for them, they have no qualms to use another weapon i.e. threats and warnings. The politic of fear is being used in Ijok right from the Day of Nomination because BN is “kiasu” this time.

The BN camp knows pretty well that they have done many things that upset the Ijok people over the years.

The late K Sivalingam did not provide good service to the Ijok people. Instead, he becomes a big bully over the years. He also broken his promises on the closure of landfill and donation for the local primary Chinese school, SJKC Yuk Chee.

Selangor Menteri Besar Khir Toyo has not bothered to visit Ijok for years. He refused to entertain the call made by the local MCA leaders on the issue of the smelly landfill in Batang Berjuntai. He likes to use Kuala Selangor as the dumping grounds for Kuala Lumpur because he could not get along with the MP of Kuala Selangor. He has opened another landfill in Jeram, also in Kuala Selangor.

MCA President Ong Ka Ting is also not popular among the Ijok MCA leaders. Ong never bother to entertain them on the issue of landfill.

On the other hand, Samy Vellu has really upset Thirumoorthy and other local MIC leaders and members by appointing Partiban, an outsider. Partiban’s name was not even on the original namelist (23 names). He was selected because of Umno. Partiban works as the special assistant of Nor Omar, a deputy minister of education. If elected, he will listen 100% to Umno leaders, instead of serving the interest of Ijok people on behalf of MIC.

Opposition unity is another big headache the Bn camp has to handle.

No one should rule out the possibility of another “Lunas”. The Ijok people has given their full support to BN over the last 50 years. They have the right to shift their support to the Opposition now that they have seen the true colours of BN leaders – who were arrogant, greedy and serving self -interest – in general.

On the same day, Anwar responded to the allegations made by MCA on the issue of sending teachers who were not well-versed in Mandarin to Chinese primary schools some 20 years ago when he was the Education Minister. Inthe press conference, Anwar explained that he would not defend the decision which he made under the Umno education policy. He admitted that that decision was biased and he acted within the framework of Umno.

DAP SG Lim Guan Eng opined that “whoever becomes the education minister would not be able to act against the policy and framework of Umno”. In other words, we need to change the system dictated byUmno or put it simply, change the oppressive and racist Umno-led BN government if we want a fair and just mother tongue education policy.

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang called the BN camp “kiasu”. He made his first appearance in Ijok last night. The gentleman sitting on my left is Thomas Soo Kheng Seong. He’s a DAP state assemblyman from Ipoh. T Kannan, the deputy campaign director of Selangor DAO Campaign support Team, is standing on his right.

Many have predicted a victory for Khalid. Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang describes the attempt to stop PKR’s ceramahs as “kiasu” (takut kalah) . He persuades the Ijok people to create history, sending Khalid to the Selangor state assembly to bring hope to Malaysian democracy. More tha 1,000 people turned up for the ceramah. The police have tried to stop the ceramahs earlier, claiming that there were no permits for these gatherings. The OCPD of Kuala Selangor tried to snatch Kit Siang’s microphone. But the election rules stated clearly that the candidate or his agent needs only to inform the police about the time and venue of the ceramah. The question of permit does not arise at all. Police must stay out of party politics. They must not take side with the ruling parties. But can they understand simple rules and regulations?

Kit Siang, Chong Eng and Po Kuan spoke for the first time in Ijok last night. Others who spoke were Anwar, Azmin and Khalid. I have opted not to speak in order to spend some time talking to some local voters.

Khalid has slimmed down quite a fair bit after several days of intensive campaigning. We are banking on him to win Ijok for the opposition. Go, Khalid Go! Whack the BN fellows in the state assembly for all of us.

It appears to me that Khalid has an upperhand over Partiban in the Chinese areas at the moment. He himself is confident about getting the majority of the Malay votes. He even believes that he could win quite a good percentage of the Indian votes.

A reliable source says that Samy Vellu has not resolved the internal problem of his own party. His open statement about good chances of winning even without the Chinese votes (he said it in Taman Suria, Batang Berjuntai) has upset a lot of Chinese voters here.

Another source says that the local Umno MP was not in good terms with the Menteri Besar of Selangor. And the local MCA Youth members were still unhappy with the top BN leadership (incl their own President Ong “kata nothing”) over the rubbish landfill issue (the dump site has been making the whole town stink like nobody. It was only ordered to be closed one day after the death of K Sivalingam. Before that, BN has promised to shut it down after the last general election but it has broken its promises on several occasions.) Many are now saying that the landfill will be reopened as soon as the by-election on 28 April 2007 was over.

Malay votes in the upcoming Ijok by-election in Selangor is crucial and Umno has launched an all-out campaign to bag support in the Malay-dominated areas.One of the targeted areas is Bukit Badong, a district of 1,900 voters which Keadilan won in the 2004 general election.However, some villagers warned that the strategy employed by the ruling coalition could backfire.According to them, the tactic of combining fear, nostalgia and the lure of a more comfortable life, could only yield short-term results.

Another stumbling block for Umno and its counterparts is that many of those aged 40 and below in Bukit Badong are hardcore opposition supporters.

Eighty-five percent of Bukit Badong residents are Malays, with Indian and Chinese villagers making up about 13 and two percent respectively.

In the 2004 general elections, the late incumbent K Sivalingam of Barisan Nasional won in the non-Malay areas of Berjuntai Bestari, Tuan Mee, Pekan Ijok and Sungai Darah.

Whereas, the opposition candidate from Parti Keadilan Rakyat Abdul Rahman Muharam won in the Malay areas of Bukit Badong and Kampung Ijuk and took half the votes in Sempang Ijok and Jaya Setia (see chart below).

The April 28 by-election will see another duel between the two parties. BN is represented by K Parthiban while PKR, Khalid Ibrahim.

Doom and disorder

For this election, Umno is said to be concentrating its campaign on Bukit Badong’s older generation, painting a dismal picture of doom and disorder should the opposition party win.

“My peers have been told that things will revert to the days of old if we vote in the Keadilan (PKR) candidate,” Suraji Puniran, 65, told malaysiakini when met today.

“It may or may not work with the older people. Many of them remember the huru-hara (chaos) of the Japanese occupation and communist insurgency,” said Suraji, who heads the PAS Bukit Badong branch.

Another villager claimed that Umno workers told elderly villagers that if PKR wins, the ensuing social and economic unrest would deprive their children and grandchildren of education and stability.

According to him, even the older generation of Umno members in the village are being turned off by the aggressiveness of the young campaigners.
Recounting an incident that occurred last night, Ansor said elderly villagers who gathered near the PAS Bukit Badong branch for a chat were interrupted by loud young Umno workers passing in a truck.

“Gempur!’ (attack!) they shouted as they passed us. It was very rude of them. Some of us sitting there were PAS (members), and some were not, but their behavior was just plain kurang ajar (rude) to all of us!” he said.

Election banners

Disgruntled BN supporter Azmi Atan, 52, (photo, below) said the fear tactic was also visible in some of the election banners put up in parts of the village.

On top of that, both Chong Engand Po Kuan will be joining Khalid, Anwar and Azizah in the “walkabout” in Batang Berjuntai town from 5pm.

C U There!!!

A sandiwara(show) was put up by Samy Vellu yesterday to fish for more Indian votes in Ijok. In the function, Pandithan hugged Samy Vellu and said that Samy is his dear friend. So what kind of friendship he was talking about? What happened to the coffin he brought in and out for Samy Vellu?

Pandithan has suffered from leukimia for some time now. He recently asked IPF members to support Samy Vellu but that move has backfired. Pandithan’s followers think that he has no principle because Samy Vellu remains the same Samy Vellu except for paying a visit to Pandithan when he was lying on the bed in hospital. Some suspect that Pandithan has changed his tune could be due to some private dealings between the two men. These IPF leaders were sacked for openly questioned Pandithan’s move. Partiban would not be able to get their votes, for sure.

The ousted MIC deputy president S. Subramaniam has some 200 t0 300 supporters in Ijok. They too have no reason to vote for Partiban.

And grassroot members who are loyal supporters of the sacked Kuala Selangor division chief Thirumoorty would not likely to vote for Partiban. Samy Vellu has dropped and sacked thier chief and even said that MIC could still win without their support. They were even not requested to turn up on the Nomination Day. Why should these 300 to 400 members support Partiban now?

And the DAP Indian members and hardcore Indian supporters here (about 10% of the total voters) would certainly vote for Khalid.

And we are trying to resolve the problem between some local estate workers and Khalid here with the help of PSM. The party has issued a statement to urge its party members not to support BN three days ago.

Let’s has faith in our Indian brothers and sisters in Ijok. They too know that MIC leaders like Samy Vellu have betrayed the Indian community, so much so that the Indian community has been marginalised for the past 50 years in our land .

And the Maika Holdings scandal is still fresh in their mind where 90% of the 10 million Tenaga Nasional shares alloted by the then Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim were hijacked by Samy Vellu.

We want to impress upon them that a victory to Khalid would be more meaningful than voting in another MIC candidate.

Two foes embrace for Parthiban

RK Anand- Malaysiakini
Apr 23, 07 12:16pm

A wise man once said that, in politics, friends are never friends for life and enemies are never enemies for life. The sleepy hollow of Ijok – now wide awake – bore testimony to this yesterday when two sworn enemies hugged each other, not once, but twice.After years of mud slinging, name calling and even a macabre protest involving a coffin, MIC president S Samy Vellu and Indian Progressive Front (IPF) president MG Pandithan publicly buried the hatchet.“It was an emotionally charged event,” noted an observer who was at the function at the IPF operations centre in Taman Cahaya.In the presence of about 1,200 people, some clad in the black-and-red IPF outfit and others wearing tops bearing the MIC logo, the veteran politicians locked themselves in an embrace.They had come together to ensure victory for Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate K Parthiban, 38, in the by-election on Saturday. A former education officer, he will take on Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidate Khalid Ibrahim, 61.Though seriously ill, a frail-looking Pandithan took to the stage and said he considered Samy Vellu a dear friend. He described the public end to their acrimonious relationship as an emotional event.

On his part, Samy Vellu said his party’s co-operation with IPF would continue even after the by-election.

Pandithan was previously a popular leader in MIC and commanded strong grassroots support from the Indian working class. He rose up the ranks to become vice-president.

However, his ties with Samy Vellu became strained when he backed a faction opposed to the president. In 1988, he was slapped with a show-cause letter for allegedly practising caste-oriented politics.

In June that year, Pandithan embarked on a hunger strike in front of the MIC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. He brought along a coffin to signify that democracy was dead in the party.

This led to his expulsion on July 16, 1988, together with 13 of his loyalists. Two years later, he formed IPF which is backed by 1,069 people in Ijok, which has an electorate of 12,272.

Opposite effect

Bernama reported that Samy Vellu and Pandithan’s willingness to share the same stage augured well for a BN victory in Ijok.

Quoting observers, the news agency said the co-operation between the two former political foes paved the way to obtain the full support of Indian voters.

However, one MIC member warned that the reconciliation could prove to have the opposite effect as Indian voters might view it as another political gimmick.

“After all the squabbles and insults, the two hug each other. Indian voters might just laugh this off and become discouraged from voting for Parthiban. Will he (Samy Vellu) be hugging (his former deputy S) Subramaniam next?” asked the Ijok resident, who declined to be named.

Subramaniam (left), who had a protracted feud with Samy Vellu, lost in last year’s party polls to G Palanivel, who was backed by the president.

The MIC member also said there was much discontent among supporters of former Kuala Selangor MIC chief P Thirumoorthy for the way he was treated by the president.

Thirumoorthy had crossed swords with Samy Vellu after he was overlooked as a potential candidate for Ijok. He then threatened to resign, to which the president said he was free to leave.

Despite this, Thirumoorthy, who had since relinquished his post, pledged his support for Parthiban but it was said that his supporters might vote for the opposition as a mark of protest.

In a related development, Samy Vellu addressed a small gathering in Batang Berjuntai organised by the Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress. He told them to vote for Parthiban because he is “young, good looking and energetic”.

He also promised to return to the constituency twice a month to ensure that all the election promises are kept.

Coffee shop to kampung, Anwar charms Ijok

RK Anand
Apr 23, 07 11:30am

Malaysiakini

It was a modest Chinese coffee shop in the heart of Ijok. At its best, it could probably accommodate little more than 50 customers.However, last night the shop was bursting at its seams as hundreds descended upon it. The crowd spilled onto the streets, causing a traffic jam in the tiny hamlet, tucked amongst dense plantations some 50km northwest of Kuala Lumpur.They were there for one man, who showed up soon after in a chauffeur driven dark-coloured Rover. As the car pulled up, the crowd began to jostle for a closer look and when he emerged there was a thunderous applause.

This was none other than former deputy premier and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Anwar Ibrahim who had come to campaign for Khalid Ibrahim – his party’s candidate in the April 28 by-election.

Yesterday’s function was testimony to his popularity, not only among the Malays, but other races as well.

Since the 500 or so people who jam packed the coffee shop were predominantly Chinese, Anwar decided to touch on topics close to their hearts such as the economy, mother-tongue education and not to forget, Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein’s infamous keris-wielding incident.

Peppered with generous doses of humour and wit, Anwar drew much laughter and applause from his audience during his brief speech.

Repressive policies

As for Hishammuddin, who is also education minister, Anwar said wielding the keris during the Umno general assembly was nothing short of a warning to other races, especially the Chinese.

He said the Umno Youth chief had since explained that raising the traditional dagger was part of the Malay culture.

“You think the Chinese are stupid ah?” he asked, cracking up those present. “It was a warning (to the other races). Don’t challenge the Malays or else…”

The PKR leader also said the New Economic Policy (NEP) was detrimental to all races, including the Malays which it was crafted to provide assistance for.

Anwar said he was not raising these issues just to please the Chinese and that he would tell the Malays the same thing as well.

“If Malaysia is to move forward, all races must participate,” he said, adding that race-based politics was not good for the country.

“I don’t understand why the Chinese still support this Malay (Umno) government,” he quipped much to the amusement of the audience.

On a more serious note, Anwar said he does not want to support policies that are repressive and discriminatory. “I don’t want to see this country go down because of leaders who squander.”

As for education, he said the current standard was deplorable and asked why a non-Malay could not head a local public university.

The former deputy premier also took a swipe at the language-switch policy mooted by his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad which saw English being used as the medium of instruction for Mathematics and Science.

“I challenge MCA leaders to respond to my call to have the language switch reverted and have Chinese schools teach these subjects in Chinese,” he said.

Anwar also drew loud cheers when he stressed on the importance of learning the Chinese language and revealed that three of his six children have learnt the language.

Better Malaysia

On a more personal note, the former deputy premier, who was sacked by Mahathir in 1998 and subsequently spent six year in prison, said he was not fueled by the desire for vengeance.

“I have gone through the cycle. I have dined with Kings and I have eaten horrible meals in prison. I am not seeking revenge, I just want Malaysia to be a good country for all Malaysians.”

He also took a swipe at Umno campaigners for telling Malay voters that he has changed and that he was now pro-Jew and pro-Chinese.

“MCA will come here tomorrow and tell you (Chinese voters) that I am pro-Malay. Both are lies, I am pro all races,” he said.

Immediately after his speech, Anwar was whisked away to another location in Batang Bejuntai, where he spent several minutes in the company of a few Indian PKR leaders and activists who launched a verbal assault against the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. Their primary targets being MIC and its president S Samy Vellu.

Dinner Ceramah at Ijok last night. In my speech last Friday, I said a big portion of the so-called RM36 million development fund would have gone into certain pockets, instead of being spent in real projects. My suspicion was proven correct. I was informed today that all the jobs were outsourced to some 30 contractors and most of them were not from Ijok. And the engineers from JKR and local councils were completely by-passed.It was estimated that only half of the RM36 m will be spent on real works.

1.I was informed by Lee Khai Loon of Youth for Change that his team (some 40 of them) was threatened by the MIC Cameron Highlands MP Devamany when they were doing a house-to-house visit in Ijok. He warned them that they must leave Tuan Mee Estate immediately or “their safety will not be guaranteed”.

Devamany must be condemned for his shameless act and MIC President should ask him to apologise to Y4C. And don’t you deny, Devamany. Because your ugly act has been captured in a video clip (go to Malaysiakini ).

2.Tan Sri Khalid has endorsed the signature campaign launched by the Bandar Mahkota Cheras Open Access Road Action Committee. He also pledged to raise the matter in the Selangor state assembly if he is elected. The BMC OARAC team was led by its chairman Tan Boon Wah. Tan gave a briefing to the Ijok people, telling them how they were victimised by the toll concessionaire who enjoys the full backing of the BN government.

In their outing earlier, they managed to see Samy and Najib seperately. Samy, as usual, put the blame of not removing the blockade to the developer Tan Sri William Cheng of the Lion Group. Najib refused to endorse the memo of the group without giving an answer.

4. In my speech last night, I condemned the action of Devamany, Hishamuddin, Khairy Jamaluddin and those Pemuda Umno members who attacked Khalid with mineral water bottles. A freelance photographer who accompanied Khalid was injured on Saturday afternoon. I reiterated the importance of opposition unity and why Khalid should be elected. I said we Malaysians have had enough of the “same old shit” from the racist Umno-led BN Government for the past 50 years. The time has come for real political changes in Malaysia. A victory to Khalid would provide new hope to all Malaysians and say goodbye to the Umno hegemony.

5.Khalid has challenged Partiban for a debate on who should be elected as the wakil rakyat of Ijok. But I dare to say that Partiban is no different from the MCA leaders; he too would not have the courage to face Khalid in an open debate. Please prove me wrong, Mr Partiban.

6. Also last night, Ng Lam Yong of PKR passed a copy of the Altantuya leaflet to Najib in the market place in Pekan Ijok. He quickly threw it away after a glance. hahahah….

7. Do you have friends and relatives living in Ijok? Pls call them up to persuade them to vote Khalid/ Opposition on 28 April 2007.

The youth-based Youth for Change (Y4C) came up against aggressive response while conducting an election-related survey at an estate near Ijok, where a by-election will take place on Saturday.

The group, which had conducted similar surveys in Ijok town and Bukit Badong, was attempting to get the views of Tuan Mee Estate workers as to whether they were receiving sufficient information about the by-election.

However, the 40 students led by convener Lee Khai Loon, were threatened with trouble if they did not stop “disturbing” the workers.

“Do you want 100 of us to come here now?” asked a man who saw them.

Cameron Highlands parliamentarian SK Devamany, who was at the estate, told the youths that they were on private property.

“I advise you to get permission from the estate management. There is a by-election going on, it is not a (suitable) time for you to come here,” he said, adding that the youths were welcome to do community work after the polls.

Lee explained the visit as an exposure trip for youths to take an interest in the by-election process.

“It does not have a political agenda,” he said.

Devamany appeared dissatisfied and reprimanded Lee for breaching the provisions of the Universities and University Colleges Act, which prohibits student participation in political activities.

After Devamany walked away, several people warned the students to leave, accusing them of perverting the by-election process by conducting irrelevant surveys.

A man snatched the survey forms from the students and questioned their basis for asking those questions.

Lee said he had obtained permission from an estate worker to conduct the survey.

The by-election was called after the seat fell vacant with the death of MIC’s K Sivalingam on April 4. Candidates from Barisan Nasional and Parti Keadilan Rakyat are involved in a straight fight.

Some 500 people turned up at the dinner ceramah at Taman Suria, Batang Berjuntai last night. DAP SG Lim Guan Eng came to Ijok for the first time. He will be back again tomorrow night to campaign for Khalid in the spirit of opposition unity. He made a very persuasive speech in a mixture of Mandarin and Hokkien.

After three days of intensive campaigning from both camps, I would say it’s 50-50 at this point of time.

While BN has spent no less than RM40 million to lure the Ijok voters apart from closing down the smelly landfill temporary for a week now, it was neutralised by the campaign led by Anwar with the help of some top leaders from DAP and Pas, plus the fact that Khalid has a clear upper hand compared to Partiban.

The situation is still very fluid at the moment. The internal problem of MIC was still not resolved while MCA and Gerakan are still keeping a low profile. Umno leaders have been very agressive on the ground but they were damaging their own image with more incidences of violence and gangsterish acts.

And almost every top BN leader who was campaigning here does not enjoy a good image. They were either tarnished by corruption, abuse of power or even murder.

But the BN has a very powerful weapon at their disposal-plenty of hard cash. They may decide to buy the support- by hook or by crook.

The Opposition has plenty of issues and never short of good speakers. But we have difficulty in reaching every voter due to the short campaigning period granted by the Election Commission. The controlled media was not helping at all except for one or two Chinese newspapers.

The rainy season is not good for campaigning.But unlike the Opposition, the ruling power could use TV and Radio stations to engage the people at home. We only have the Internet but the Ijok people were not known as net-savvy.

It’s still too early to predict the final result. The next one week is deadly crucial.

Breaking news: Khalid was attacked by Umno members this afternoon at about 3pm at a restaurant near Batu Lapan Ijok. He was not hurt but blogger Jeff Ooi suffered a minor injury from a flying mineral water bottle that hit his spectacles in the ugly incident this afternoon.

Who says the brandishing of keris and irresponsible speeches by Umno leaders have no negative impact on their members?

And who knows Malaysians may start asking the BN government to ban mineral water in this country?

Watch this blog for more datails later. I will be speaking tonight at Taman Suria Batang Berjuntai together with Khalid, Lim Guan Eng, Anwar Ibrahim and others.

Believe it or not – Anwar Ibrahim is now anxiously waiting to be sued!

And he is hoping that Najib Abdul Razak would take the initiative as this would enable him to expose more in court of what he knows about the Mongolian murder case.

Last night, the opposition icon continued his attack on Najib by ‘inviting’ the deputy premier to initiate a lawsuit against him for linking the latter to the murder case of a Mongolian national.

“I prefer him (Najib) to sue me because I can go to court then and speak more about the matter,” Anwar told a crowd of about 400 at a dinner in Ijok – where a by-election is being held.

His challenge was made in the wake of Najib’s statement on Thursday that the deputy premier has no plan to take Anwar to court for the time being over the allegation.

Najib had said: “I don’t have to sue him. I have the option to sue him but what’s important is to let the law take its course.”

‘I know Najib too well’

Anwar, the PKR advisor, has repeatedly drawn Najib’s name into the gruesome murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The Mongolian national, aged 28, was murdered and her body was blown to bits with a powerful plastic explosive at a secondary forest near the Subang Dam at Puncak Alam, Shah Alam last October.

Two officers from a police elite unit have been charged with murder while a think-tanker closely linked to Najib has been charged with abetting them.

At the dinner last night, Anwar also claimed he knew Najib “too well”.

He then asked the crowd whether they want to know more government scandals, to which the audience replied with a loud “yes”.

But Anwar responded in Mandarin: “Man Man (slowly), we still have the general election to come. In Ijok, we reveal bit by bit.”

Apart from the murder case, Anwar also raised the language-switch policy in the teaching of Science and Maths and the need to do away with the New Economic Policy in his speech.

PKR is fielding its national treasurer Khalid Ibrahim against BN’s K Parthiban, who is the Tanjung Karang MIC division secretary, in the April 28 by-election.

‘Nothing to do with me’

Commenting on this matter today, Najib said the opposition was raising non-issues in their election campaigns.

As such, he added, they were talking about matters that did not relate to the people of Ijok.

“What is the relationship between the Mongolian woman and the people of Ijok? There is no relationship, it has nothing to do with me too,” Najib told reporters after opening a new annex to the SRJK (Tamil) Bestari Jaya in Batang Berjuntai.

“It has nothing to do with me, yet it is being raised up here as an election issue,” he added.

Najib also said that the opposition was incapable of championing the cause of the estate workers.

He added that Khalid had always been “at top” and had no inkling of the woes faced by the estate workers.

“Who knows better about the problems of the estate workers other than people who were born in the estate such as Parthiban?” he said.

DAP, PAS join in campaign

DAP leaders Teresa Kok, Ronnie Liu and Ean Yong Hian Hwa were also present at the dinner in support of the PKR candidate.

The event, hosted by PKR at a Chinese restaurant, attracted more than 200 people who showed up after the party handed out dinner coupons during their house-to-house visits earlier in the day.

Another 200 – a mixture of Malay and Chinese crowd – followed the opposition leaders’ speeches outside the restaurant. There were few Indians among the crowd.

After the dinner, Anwar proceeded to two ceramahs held at Batang Berjuntai and Kampung Jaya Setia which also featured PAS leaders Dr Hasan Ali and Dr Hatta Ramli.

About 500 people turned up at the ceramah in Kampung Jaya Setia, a Malay-majority polling district believed to be PKR stronghold.

In the 2004 general election, PKR secured 41 votes more than the BN in the area.

Anwar’s speech, punctuated with Quranic verses, appealed to the locals to defend Jaya Setia as a “fort of the people’s struggle”.

However, despite the considerably good turnout at the ceramah, most of those in the crowd were not locals and this has caused some worry to the party.

Out of 10 people malaysiakini approached last night, only two confirmed they are locals while the others came from Kuala Lumpur, Klang and Seremban.